Panel-board structure and branch-block units



J U T H B E R T AN D J. I N I ELSE N PANEL BOARD STRUCTURE AND BRANCHBLOCK UNITS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY IB, 1916.

J. CUTHBERT AND 1.1. NIELSEN PANEL BOARD STRUCTURE AND BRANCH BLOCKUNITS.

APPLLCATION FILED MAY 18. 19l6.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C'UTHBERT AND JULIAN J. NIELSEN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; SAIDCUTI-IBERT ASSIGNOR OF HIS RIGHT TO JOHN CUTHBERT COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO,ILLINOIS,

A CORPORATION.

PANEL-'BOARD STRUCTURE AND BRANCH-BLOCK UNITS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

T o a-ZZ whom t may concem.:

Be it known that we, JOHN CUTHBERT and JULIAN J. NIELSEN, citizens ofthe United States, all respectively residino` at Chicago, in the countyof Cool; and Satate of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Panel-Board'Structures and Branch-Block Units, of whlchthe following is a specification. l

Our invention relates to panel board structures for systems ofelectrical distribution and the branch block units, of which suchstructures may be built up. t o

One of the objects of our inventlon 1s to provide a new and useful formof lamp vreceptacle that may be embodied in a branchblock or otherlamp-receiving device. v

Other and further objects of our inventlon will become apparent, topersons skilled 1n the art,v from a consideration of the. followingdescription when talgen in con]unct1on with the drawings, wherein Figure1 is an enlarged plan view of a part of a composite panel board,composed of a plurality of branch block units.

Fig. 2 is a section throu h one of the blocks taken on line 5-5 of 4ig.1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are details of two of the receptacle internal conductors.

Fig. 5 is a section showing a receptacle containing the invention.

Fig. 6 is a section through two receptacles.

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 10-10 of Fig. 1.

In all the views the same reference characters are employed lto indicatesimilar parts.

Our invention is principally concerned with details of construction ofbranch blocks by use of which composite panel boards may be built upinto any desirable capacity, for any number of branch circuits, byassembling a greater or less number of branch blocks upon a suitablebase plate, so constructed that they may be arranged in any place withina single series of such blocks, or within any place in two parallelseries of such blocks, the terminal connections projecting therefrom, tobe connected with an associated bus bar, being always in such relationwith the appropriate bar as to conveniently be connected thereto whetherthe block be on one side or `the other of a central median plane, orwhether it is a terminal or an intermediate block. By this means panelboards, of any desired capacity, may be built up from blocks of uniformsize and character that may be kept in stock,

ready for use at any time, thereby facilitat? y or branch blocks, andcall attention to the fact that while there are a plurality ofV suchunits necessary to make up a composite panel board, to accommodate alike series of branch circuits'from agiven set of bus bars, thereference characters applied to the units described, are equallyapplicable to all the other units, as they are uniformly the same Ainevery respect.

Each branch unit is preferably molded into a block of plastic insulatingmaterial 15, such as bakelite, porcelain, or the like. It is provided,preferably with two depressions 16, 16 each to receive an electriccurrent conducting device, such as a fuse plug 17, electric ylamp or thelike. yf llhe block, or body part, has, preferably," a channel or groovein its under surface, as at18, runf ning the full length of the block,and somewhat closer to one side than to the other, to accommodate a busbar to be contained 'therein, when the blocks are assembled toconstitute a panel board. It is also provided with another, but smallerdepression 19 in its face for accommodation of a screw 20, whereby tofix it to a plate or base 21. It is also preferably provided withanother depression 22, somewhat less in depth and preferably in the sametransverse plane, undercut and slotted, the slot opening toward one sideof the block to contain a glass or other plate 23, upon or under whichthe number of the circuit is to be indicated, as shown more clearly inFig. 1. This is a convenient refinement not necessary to the operationof the unit. Each block is to be vertically grooved on one side neareach end, as at 25, and longitudinally grooved on` one side, near itstop, as at 26, these grooves being preferably of equal depth. Thegrooves are to contain longitudinally disposed, sliding plates ofinsulating material 27, and vertically disposed end plates. These platesare receptacle to contain the electrical-conducting device, such as afuse plug or the like, to be screwed thereinto, is molded with suitableprojections or with threads 30, which may extend about 120o around thedeprcs sion. These threads should, preferably, correspond in characterand pitch twith .the threads of a shell of an ordinary electrical lampreceptacle or socket. Diametrically opposite the molded threaded part30, of the plastic material 15 is a segment, of anl electricallyconducting shell 31 or 32, as the case may be, spirally corrugated, asat 33, to provide the thread part or segment 34. The segments 31 and 32extend preferably about 120 of the internal circumference of thedepression 16 and are diametrically opposite the threads 30 made in theplastic material therein, and being of the same pitch and generalcharacter, they register with these molded threads. Each of the metalshells 31 and 32, are provided with tongues 35 that are pressed out ofthe surface of the shell and pushed backwardly so as to be incorporatedwithin the plastic material 15 of the block, for the purpose of holdingthe respective segment in place within the r e ceptacles. They may,however, be held 1n place by any other suitable means and placed inposition after the plastic block has been molded. The segments ;31 areeach provided with a laterally extending tongue 36 with a relativelyshort shank 37 and perforated, as at 38, to connect to a bus bar. Thetongue 36 passes through the plastic materialv 15 at an elevationslightly above the iioor of the depression 16', as clearly shown in Fig.6. The screw shell segment 32 is provided with a tongue 40 and arelatively longer, intermediate, integral shank 41. The tongue 40 isturned inwardly, as shown in Fig. 6, and enters the longitudinal groove18, at the bottom of the block 15. It is embedded in the plasticmaterial of the block, when the block is made of? such material, andpasses transverselyA` across the vertical depression 44, made from thebottom of the depression 16, through the body part 15 of the fitting,into the groove 18. Each of the units is provided with a shell 31 or ashell 32, having tongues 36 or 40, respectively, one in each depression.The tongues 40 are intended for connection with alongitudinally-extending bus bar 43', to be contained in the groove 18.See Fig. 6. A screw 42 passes through perforation 40 in the tongue 40into the bus bar 43 and a screw 45 passes through the tongue 36 and intothe bus bar 46. The bus bar 46 extends longitudinally of the assembledunits within the space between the respective rows of units, and servesas a means for spacing the units 15 apart. In Fig. 6, the bus barterminal 47 is connected by the screwf45, through the tongue 36, to thebus bar 46,

A clearance space 50-51 is left. between the molded threads 30 and thecurrent conducting threads 34, of the metallic shells 31 or 32, as thecase may be. The diametric distance between the .-learance surfaces isgreater than the distance between tbe threaded portions of the interior.This is done so that the current conducting threaded device to bescrewed into the receptacles 16 will certainly and suiiiciently makecontact with the metallic shells 31 or 32. The intervening clearancespaces 50 and 51, permits a slight lateral movement of the male screwportion ot' the inserted device in the event that the molded thread 3()and the impressed thread in the shell portion 34 were not in exactregister.

lh the fioor of the depression 16 is a centrally Adisposed plate 52,provided with downturned side wings 53, serving as means for holding theplate in the plastic material 15. The plate is perforated centrally, asat 54, for accommodation of a wire ceiling and clamping screw 56. (Thescrew 56 forms subject mattei' for my patent No. 1,166.1l-l granted Dec.28, 1915, and is therein specifically claimed.) The plate 52 isperforated as at 57, for admission ot' the end of a branch wire, to beinserted coiled and clamped by the screw 56. A downwardly deflected,tapered perforation 58 is made through the sides of the plastic material15, the upper end of which registers with the perforation 57, in theplate 52. These perforations in the block are shown in Fig. 2, and indotted lines in Figs. 1 and 6. lVhen the branch wires, to be connectedto the units 15 are inserted in the perforations 58, they pass throughthe perfor-ations 57 in the plates 52, so that when the clamping screws56 are rotated the shoulders 59, on the sides thereof, will engage theend of the respective wire and coil it around the shank of the screw,whereupon continued rotation of the screw will clamp the wire betweenthe head of the screw and the plate 52. When the fuse plug 17 is screwedinto the receptacle, thus provided, the contacting screw 56 is thuscovered and protected from personal contact by inadvertence or otherwiseand the screw is prevented from backing out, by contact with the fuseplug.

Each of the fittings, or units 15, is provided with two depressions 16and 16. The depression 16, when it is completed into a receptacle,contains the threaded segment of the shell 32 with its inturned tongue40, while the depression 16 contains the threaded shell 31 with itsout-turned tongue 36. So that in the same transverse plane, as shown 'inFig. 4, opposite receptacles of different units will be connected to thecentral bus bar 46, and to one of the bus bars 43 or 43', respectively,as the ease may be, so that a unit on the right hand side of the panelboard may be used to replace one on the left hand side, by turning itend for end, and movin it over into that position.

Having escribed 4our invention, what 'We claim is 1. A receptacle forscrew threaded plugs comprisin a body of molded insulating materialavinga screw threaded recess therein, the threads of the recess being moldedin the body and extending around less than half of the circumference ofthe recess, and a conducting terminal embedded in and held by the bodyWithin the recess opposite the threaded portion thereof and havingthreads corresponding to the threads molded in the body.

2. A receptacle for screw threaded plugs comprising a body of moldedinsulating material having a plug receiving recess` therein, the wall ofsaid recess being provided with screw threads molded in the body overless than half of its circumference and the diameter of the unthreadedportion of the recess being greater than the smallest diameter of thethreads, and a, metallic terminal having threads corresponding to thethreads molded in the body and extending over only a portion of theunthreaded area of the recess and embedded in and held by the bodyopposite the threaded portion thereof.

3. A screw-threaded-plug receptacle com- -prising a body of moldedinsulating material having a recess therein, the Wall of said recesshavlng screw threads molded therein over less than half thecircumference and having the unthreaded portion of greater diameter thanthe inside diameter of the threads, and a metallic terminal embedded inand held by the body opposite the threaded portion thereof and havingcorresponding threads extending over less than half of the circumferenceof the recess.

In testimony whereof we hereunto set our hands.

JOI-IN CUTHBERT. JULIAN JNIELSEN. In the presence of FoRn BAIN, MARY F.ALLEN.

